Mooring technology, shown here at MIT's Cambridge Science Festival, will be on display at the New Bedford Whaling Museum on Saturday, September 17, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

The free-swimming glider is one of the cutting edge marine technologies that will be on display at the New Bedford Whaling Museum on Saturday, September 17, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (Photo courtesy Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

WHOI Sponsors Ocean Observatories Event in New Bedford

Free event features technology displays and talks about the system that will operate off the New England coast

The New Bedford Whaling Museum is the backdrop for a free community event “Pioneering New Ocean Science Frontiers” on Saturday, September 17, from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., co-sponsored by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Consortium for Ocean Leadership. The Whaling Museum is located at 18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford, Mass.

“Pioneering New Ocean Science Frontiers” is an opportunity for a first-hand look at cutting edge marine technologies like gliders, specialized moorings, and robotic vehicles that will be used at the Pioneer Array, a planned coastal observatory that will be located in the Middle-Atlantic Bight south of Cape Cod. Scientists and engineers involved in the observatory effort will describe how the equipment will work, collecting and transmitting real-time information on complex ocean systems, and how society will benefit from an enhanced understanding of the ocean.

The event features displays in the museum’s Jacobs Family Gallery from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. and talks in the Museum Auditorium at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to learn more about the nation’s Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) and the components of the system that will operate off the New England coast.

About OOIThe OOI, a project funded by the National Science Foundation, is planned as a networked infrastructure of science-driven sensor systems to measure the physical, chemical, geological and biological variables in the ocean and seafloor. The OOI will be one fully integrated system collecting data on coastal, regional and global scales. The OOI Program is managed and coordinated by the OOI Project Office at the Consortium for Ocean Leadership, in Washington, D.C., and is responsible for construction and initial operations of the OOI network. WHOI, one of four implementing organizations, is responsible for construction and development of the coastal and global scale nodes of the OOI. For more information about OOI, please see www.oceanobservatories.org.

About the Consortium for Ocean LeadershipOcean Leadership is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization that represents 99 of the leading public and private ocean research education institutions, aquaria and industry with the mission to advance research, education and sound ocean policy. The organization also manages, coordinates and facilitates ocean research and education programs in areas of scientific ocean drilling, ocean observing, ocean exploration and ocean partnerships.

About Woods Hole Oceanographic InstitutionThe Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is a private, independent organization in Falmouth, Mass., dedicated to marine research, engineering, and higher education. Established in 1930 on a recommendation from the National Academy of Sciences, its primary mission is to understand the ocean and its interaction with the Earth as a whole, and to communicate a basic understanding of the ocean's role in the changing global environment.

Originally published: September 6, 2011

WHOI is the world's leading non-profit oceanographic research organization. Our mission is to explore and understand the ocean and to educate scientists, students, decision-makers, and the public.